Not long after completing his 1928 orchestral piece "Boléro," Maurice Ravel said the piece was his "only masterpiece," adding, "Unfortunately, it contains no music."

But it would have to do. In 1933, the French composer, then 58, was struck with aphasia, a condition that left him unable to express his musical ideas in writing or performance. Although he was able to think musically, he was unable to put those thoughts into writing or performance. Within five years, he was dead.

In the last several years, researchers have speculated the repetitive imagery of "Boléro" might have been an early sign of Ravel's progressive aphasia, or even of early-onset Alzheimer's disease.

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